Monday, March 31, 2014

Russia: Where Western Armies Go To Die

Back in my high school days, my history teacher made a bizarre statement.

“In the future, if anyone starts coming up with the notion of invading Russia, stay clear of it, in fact, head for the hills,have nothing to do with it, because the whole thing is likely to come to a horrible end.”

We had just finished discussing Hitler’s failed invasion of Russia and he was comparing it to Napoleon’s disastrous invasion, but regardless, it was a strange statement to make.

Who in their right mind would ever invade Russia?

Much later, I guess he was making the statement based on history.

Russia has been invaded numerous times by the West and all the invasions have ended in catastrophic failure.

The Teutonic Knights invaded in 1241...and were defeated at the freezing battle of Lake Peipus.

Charles XII of Sweden invaded in 1709, froze with his army...before being destroyed at the Battle of Polotava.

Napoleon’s invasion came to a freezing end at Moscow, after finding the entire city in flames (to prevent his army from NOT freezing).

The Prussian Army invaded Russia during WW-I and came to a deadlock by 1916, spending the rest of the war trying to survive the freezing Russian winters.

Hitler invaded Russia in 1941, his army freezing to death outside of Moscow.

Notice how ‘freezing’ always seems to play a charming part in any invasion of Russia.

So it is a bit amazing to see our Western leaders again playing with the idea of ‘getting involved’ with Russia.

Yes, the pieces have been re-arranged to give the whole project a more palatable appearance - it is the Ukraine we are involved with, not Russia.

But let’s be frank.

We ARE getting involved with Russia up to our armpits.

True, the USSR - the inheritors of the Russian Empire - collapsed in 1991 and all the remaining little republics are now ‘independent’...but the facts are...we is getting involved in the territories of the Russian Empire...again!

How?

By beginning to send troops to territory of the old USSR / Russian Empire.

We now have troops in what use to be the USSR proper: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Kazakhstan...and are now becoming involved in the Ukraine.

We are sending our ships to the Black Sea.

If there is any indicator that humanity is really insane and learns nothing from history...this is it.

To make it worse, my old history teacher’s warning (which everyone in class laughed at due to its ridiculousness) is now coming true.

Russia is the place where Western armies go to die.

Make no mistake.

The geographic areas we are now becoming involved in are the traditional territories of the Russian Empire...in other words, we are again trespassing on that awful territory (and like all the other invaders, being very confident and prim about it).

We are sending our planes and troops to the ‘Baltic Republics'- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

We have moved our ships into the Black Sea.

We have a puppet government and our own special forces inside the Ukraine.

Hmmm...how do you think all this looks from the Russian side?

History seems to be repeating itself.

And this might just turn out be the most pathetic...yet consequential...attempt to invade Russia the world has ever seen.